Worldwide

The Arab Parliament on Wednesday condemned in the strongest terms the heinous aggression by Turkey on the sovereignty lands of Iraq. In a statement, the Arab Parliament slammed “the Turkish drone strike that killed two officers of Iraqi border guard near the Turkish and Iranian borders.” “Such repeated military violations …

Coronavirus cases in Spain jumped by nearly 1,700 on Wednesday, part of a surge that has prompted the construction of a military field hospital in the hard-hit Aragon region and led authorities in Galicia to practically ban smoking in public places. Health ministry data showed 1,690 new coronavirus cases were …

An outcry is rising in Somalia as parliament considers a bill that would allow child marriage once a girl’s sexual organs mature and would allow forced marriage as long as the family gives their consent. The bill is a dramatic reworking of years of efforts by civil society to bring …

Shortly after 4 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, Joe Biden’s campaign announced Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate. At 4:45 p.m., Trump campaign aide Brad Parscale tweeted that the pick meant that the “Bernie Bros get burned,” pointing to a story about liberal resistance to her candidacy. …

The FBI is investigating the shooting of a military helicopter during a training mission this week in northern Virginia, injuring one crew member who was aboard, officials said Wednesday. The Air Force helicopter was flying over Middleburg on Monday when it was shot from the ground nearby, according to authorities. …

Three people died in a train derailment in eastern Scotland on Wednesday that left carriages overturned and piled on top of each other on a steep wooded slope, making it hard for emergency services to access the scene. Dark smoke billowed from the site of the accident for most of …

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday said Democrats and the Trump administration remained far apart regarding any agreement over further economic aid amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, saying Republicans also seemed divided amongst themselves over relief efforts. “We’re miles apart,” the U.S. House of Representatives’ top Democrat told MSNBC …

U.S. efforts to get the U.N. Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Tehran would fail, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech on Wednesday, a day after U.S. officials circulated a revised proposal. Washington streamlined its bid on Tuesday to win more support in the 15-member …

Jordan will close its land trade border crossing with Syria for a week after a rise in COVID-19 cases coming from its northern neighbour, officials said on Wednesday. The interior minister’s decision to close the Jaber crossing, the main gateway of goods from Lebanon and Syria to the Gulf, will …

Three of 10 Americans who lost work during the coronavirus pandemic said they may have trouble paying for food or housing after a $600-per-week enhanced unemployment payment expired last month, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. The poll conducted Monday and Tuesday found that Americans divide blame for …

Presumptive Democratic US presidential candidate Joe Biden has selected the California senator as his running mate for Vice President. Months after her presidential campaign collapsed amid questions over her political identity, Kamala Harris suddenly and forcefully found her voice — and at a fortuitous time. Harris, a 55-year-old US senator …

A report revealed the Trump administration didn’t break the law when it expedited $8bn in arms sales to the Gulf nations but concluded it failed to fully assess the humanitarian impact associated with the transfers. The US State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has found that president Donald …

South Korea and the United States are reportedly scaling back their joint military drills this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. South Korean media reported on Wednesday that US-based troops would not be mobilized for the drills this year. The exercises, which usually begin in August, involve tens of thousands …

Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has rejected allegations that the country’s pioneering COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe, dismissing them as groundless and leveled by rival competitors. Minister Murashko on Wednesday dismissed concerns raised by Western experts and media about the low number of clinical trials undergone to develop the first officially-approved …

Qatar has distanced itself from a hostile call by the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) for the UN Security Council to back a US-proposed extension of the UN arms ban against Iran, highlighting good neighborly relations between the two countries. According to Press TV, speaking in an interview with al-Jazeera …

The Israeli military has carried out overnight airstrikes and artillery attacks on several parts of the besieged Gaza Strip, with no immediate reports of casualties. Israeli forces conducted attacks on at least three sites in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday, with Palestinian sources saying the occupying regime’s aircraft had …

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday tapped Senator Kamala Harris as his choice for vice president, making her the first Black woman on a major party presidential ticket in U.S. history and providing him with a partner well suited to go on the attack against Republican President Donald Trump. …

An internal probe into a controversial US arms sale to Saudi Arabia has cleared Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of any wrongdoing, according to a senior State Department official, who briefed reporters prior to the report’s release. The State Department on Monday said the inspector general’s report found that Pompeo …

During a Fox Sports Radio interview on Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump insinuated that former Vice President Joe Biden’s decision to pick a woman to run alongside him on the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket later this fall may have been unwise, and may have even hurt his chances with men. …

A day after declaring victory in a presidential election in Belarus, leading opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fled the country for Lithuania and released two video messages to her supporters under apparent duress. On Monday, the 37-year-old Tikhonovskaya—who had refused to concede victory to President Alexander Lukashenko in what critics called …